Saturday, September 29, 2012

I will always remember seeing the Gap Khaki Go-Go commercial
in the late ‘90s. Usually when watching
dancers, I only notice the females. Not
just because I think women are beautiful and more visually appealing than men,
but I also think women are better and more interesting dancers.

When I saw the Gap Go-Go commercial, I loved it immediately
for two reasons. One, the music. It was the first time I’d ever heard James
Clarke’s “Blow Up a Go-Go (Wild Elephants)” and I was in love with that
music. I could not get enough.

But even more, the man in the center was amazing. My eyes drew to him and did not see anyone
else. He was such a captivating dancer,
with such charisma. And the way he looked at the camera in the beginning was so
powerful that I could not look away from him.
When he briefly disappeared offscreen, I hoped he would reappear soon. I
was so surprised that a man could take over my attention that I, a lesbian, did
not even see any of the women.

I couldn’t understand how this dancer affected me so
much. I was not attracted to him (for
me, attraction means I want to kiss the person, etc.), and I didn’t want to
kiss him or anything. I wondered if he
was gay, though I hated to stereotype him as gay just because he was a
dancer. But my lack of sexual attraction
for him did not negate from the electricity I felt when he danced. I wanted to continue to watch him dance. And only him.

Fourteen years later, and someone recently happened to mention
old commercials and music from the ‘90s. I thought of the Gap Go-Go
commercial. Finding it on youtube, I saw
that the man in the center still affected me in the same way. Through the wonders of the Internet, I was
able to find out his name, Kevin Stea. Since
I love giving compliments (though I cannot give false compliments), I sent him
the following email:

hi kevin,

i just feel i should tell you that
over a decade ago when the gap go-go commercial came out, i was transfixed by
your performance. normally i only notice women in dance groups, for i'm
lesbian. but when that commercial came out, you had such charisma, not to
mention the most captivating dance performance, that i only noticed you in the
whole group. i was often amazed throughout the years that there was a male
dancer that could draw me away from all the females, not in an attraction-based
way, but due to the power and charisma that this man had.

recently someone was talking about
the gap commercials from the 90's and i remembered the gap go-go commercial,
and looked it up on youtube. again, i was loving your performance and, again, i
only saw you! so i wanted to know you are!

i even asked a question on yahoo
answers to find out and saw that someone had already asked this question in 2007:

<

Lead male dancer from Gap
"Khaki-a-Go-Go" commercial?

What is the name of the lead male
dancer in the "Khaki-a-Go-Go" Gap commercial from 1998? He's the guy
in the black t-shirt with dark, curly hair who is the star at the beginning of
the commercial and fades into the chorus of dancers. I think he was also in the
Gap vests commercial from around the same time.

if you're refering to the one with the big hair in the middle he
was one of madonna's dancers. he was in her Truth or Dare movie. he was also a
dancer in the movie Showgirls but had just a few lines in it. but i don't know
his name. he's a﻿ great dancer though.
total flamer but hey....

So I just wanted to share this with you to let you know that
your appearance in that Gap commercial stayed with me all these many years, and
obviously with others too! I think it's pretty amazing that one person in
one commercial can have such a lasting impact for so many people, so i just
want to let you know.

Now I've read of some of the other work that you are doing and
i'm even more impressed with how extremely talented you are. i wish you
all the best in your future endeavors, and thank you for being the wonderful
dancer that you are!

I
am still amazed that a male dancer had such an effect on me that I never forgot
it.